Long-Term Modelling of Composite Pavement Performance

Abstract

The rehabilitation of rigid (concrete) pavements with the placement of an asphalt overlay is a common maintenance technique which results in a structure known as a flexible composite pavement. The most common form of distress in this type of pavement is reflection cracking which can be due to traffic and/or climatic loading and it is considered as a very complex deterioration mechanism. A simplified mechanics-based approach identified from the literature has been developed to model the progression of reflective cracking. To demonstrate the model, results have been compared with data from the Long-Term Pavement Performance (LTPP) database, which contains performance and traffic data from monitored in-service road sections in North America. Results reveal the development of reflective cracking at different periods after the placement of the asphalt overlay and with different rates of cracking depending on the structure and material properties of a section as well as the specific traffic axle loading of each pavement section. The results help in identifying those factors which have a greater influence on the progression of reflection cracking in flexible composite pavements.